Blizzard: WoW Won't Be Going Free-To-Play

[Freakzooi]

Make vanilla-only servers, damn you! Bring back the good times!

Not until they hit bottom. When they hit bottom and realize they are in the shitter they will come out with classic servers.

Or they'll release a different MMO

Seriously, Blizzard is a company. They won't stick to WoW just for the sake of WoW

 

[Aprilgold]

I'll give them a year.

You know, while their subscriptions continue to plummet to the might of games like Guild Wars 2.

Exactly, also WoW is showing its age, its going to be gone soon from everything else.

And I can't wait till Guild Wars 2, early next year I hope.

When did this 'decline' start happening? Because I feel I've missed something, I realise that they've lost 700,000 subscribers out of the 11 million they had, but to me that doesn't scream 'deline'.

I've heard the occasional person make a passing claim that Cata wasn't to their taste, but that isn't 'decline'.

Blizzard is not in the position to go into F2P territory and likely won't be for several years.
Their game practically estalished the standardfor it's market and is still a major player.

With their subscription based model they're in a position to create more content at increasing quality, sure some of their decisions have missed the mark slightly but there's never beenanything as damning as what some people claim.

You'd be surprised, most vets of WoW are basically done with the game, just waiting for something SIMILAIR enough to come along while wanting something with quality.
Not all vets, but most.

 

[Rawne1980]

When did this 'decline' start happening? Because I feel I've missed something, I realise that they've lost 700,000 subscribers out of the 11 million they had, but to me that doesn't scream 'deline'.

Not saying this to sound like an arse but go back and recheck your numbers.

At the start of Cataclysm they released sub numbers as 12.5 million.

Now the numbers are at 10 - 11 million.

Thats a loss of 1.5 - 2.5 million.

They lost a hell of a lot of subs this past year and they say the numbers are still going down albeit more slowly now.

 

[Twilight_guy]

Huh... well I don't see them giving in, WoW isn't ever going to die and its not like its going to be there only source of cash considering the real world money options in Dibalo 3 and the fact that they freaking have project Titan sitting in the wings.

 

[tautologico]

With WoW on the decline(due to its own dev incompetence) they still make fuck tons past the breaking even mark but they won't keep that number up for long with all the other MMOs coming over the horizon.

Yes, they're so incompetent to still have complete dominance over the market and many millions of subscribers with a game so old.

Seriously, WoW is old. It's a good game, but its continued success after all these years exceeds everyone's expectations, even their own. I don't play anymore because the game got old to me, so I prefer to play something entirely new than a revamped one I already played to death. It's no fault of the game, though.

As for changing the game, if Blizzard had changed nothing people would be crying that they didn't change, and if they try new things people complain they're changing a good game. It's no use trying to appease everyone.

 

[Lunar Templar]

According to him, quality is king, and WoW is synonymous with quality.

isn't this an oxymoron?

Zing! It almost sounds like Morhaime is implying that free-to-play games only use the model to get away with offering lower quality content. Still, many games (such as the upcoming MMO, FireFall [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/features/9013-Evolve-or-Die]) are pushing the limits what we've come to expect from free-to-play titles. If they can match WoW's quality pixel for pixel, Morhaime might have to reconsider his argument.

just one? how about three

City of Heroes
DDO
Vindictus, if you really wanna drive the dagger in

all 3 are 'pixel to pixel' better, in the literal sense, all are also F2P, and two have content i hold about anything WoW has done, ever.

the third just has great combat i like bosses to be a challenge of skill, not a fucking MATH problem.

but really this doesn't surprise me, and by the time they do pull their heads out of their asses it'll be to late. GW2 isn't the only MMO coming out with more emphasis on action, there's TERA, Blade and Soul, Warhammer 40K: Dark Millennium, donno how many will be good, but we're moving away from hotkeys and subscriptions. and while they have the sale NOW to justify keeping subs, its coming up fast on the time to ether adapt to whats coming or get left behind, like the relic they are

 

[Irridium]

"I think that there's an underlying, a fundamental, assumption right now that the less you charge, the more money you make ... which isn't true."

Gabe Newell Disagrees [http://www.geekwire.com/2011/experiments-video-game-economics-valves-gabe-newell].

And I think he knows a little more about charging prices for digital items pal, because he invented it! And then he perfected it so no living man could best him in the ring of digital distribution!

 

[Xanadu84]

F2P inspires countless people to try a game and be hooked, increasing its profit. With WoW EVERYONE has already tried it, and taken a whack at being hooked. It's not about quality, it's about maximizing profit. WoW made the logical decision here, but it doesn't reflect on quality.

 

[tautologico]

With their subscription based model they're in a position to create more content at increasing quality, sure some of their decisions have missed the mark slightly but there's never beenanything as damning as what some people claim.

No, not really. But this is the internet, where hating something popular is very popular in itself.

Many people have simply played it too much already and more content or cosmetic changes won't appeal again. I know that's my case. But I still think it's a good and very fun game for people relatively new to it.

However, if a truly good new MMO comes out, I can see it attracting a lot of current and former WoW players. I wouldn't call the death of WoW too early though.

 

[Ickorus]

I can say with certainty that just because an MMO is free to play doesn't mean it's bad quality.

HAHAHAHA Wow...synonymous with quality....Its good to see those blizzard folks have a sense of humor atleast...

Well to be fair most of it is pretty good quality, it's just that there isn't enough of it.

It's like having the best chef with the best sources and ingredients in the world was to make you a thimbleful of peas, it might be really really good but you're still gonna be hungry afterwards.

 

[adamtm]

I'll give them a year.

You know, while their subscriptions continue to plummet to the might of games like Guild Wars 2.

This

I'm sticking to my prediction that WoW goes free to play in 2013/14 or whenever Titan is released, whichever will come first.

A company running two AAA P2P mmo titles = dumb

 

[Clive Howlitzer]

Why would it go free to play? It has millions of slaves and makes money hand over fist! If anything, they should probably triple their subscription fee! Honestly, one of the main reasons every other MMO in the universe had to go F2P was because of WoW. You can't compete with WoW for subscription users.
Personally, I find that F2P games are really hit or miss. I had a pretty good experience with F2P games like Vindictus and DDO. However, I played City of Heroes for 5 years as subscription and its new F2P model is a nightmare. It actually costs much more to get access to the same content you did as a subscriber. Whenever I see a game go F2P, I just take it to mean I am stepping into a pay to win, free for all gougefest. At least with subscriptions, its all even.

 

[Something Amyss]

Why would they go F2P while this money fountain still squirts out somuch delicious cashy goodness.

Yeah, they're the one ones that consistently make the current model work....

 

[MajorDolphin]

I guess the officially sanctioned gold selling is working better than they thought.

 

[Nikolaz72]

Declining Subscriptionbase, What do?

1: Change to an F2P model.
2: Lower prices.
3: Increase size of shoulderpads.

4: Introduce Pandas.

They went with number 4.

Thats in 2 years it will come out. To stall players -while- waiting for panda's they will repeat 3 until 4.

 

[Zulnam]

In all honesty, no, there won't really be a wow killer any time soon. People are rooting for Guild Wars 2 and The Old Republic, but it was the same thing with every big MMO since wow launched. Warhammer, Star Trek, Champions Online, Age of Conan. From what I heard, the next MMO to do good after WoW is Rift with somewhere around 3 million subscribers, but don't quote me on that. Also, there's EVE, but management and accounting simulators don't count.

I think the only thing that will kill Blizzard's MMO is Blizzard's next MMO.

 

[Sartan0]

For an MMO I like only having to pay a flat fee and not worrying about all the other monatization and gimmicks put in place to part you with your money. For myself I would only consider a FTP MMO if I had no choice. I enjoyed what little of Firefall that I got to play at PAX but I will not be playing it.

 

[Archemetis]

When did this 'decline' start happening? Because I feel I've missed something, I realise that they've lost 700,000 subscribers out of the 11 million they had, but to me that doesn't scream 'deline'.

Not saying this to sound like an arse but go back and recheck your numbers.

At the start of Cataclysm they released sub numbers as 12.5 million.

Now the numbers are at 10 - 11 million.

Thats a loss of 1.5 - 2.5 million.

They lost a hell of a lot of subs this past year and they say the numbers are still going down albeit more slowly now.

Didn't realise the drop was that many, last time I'd heard about it it was closer to the numbers I had (with the exception of the 11 million, I guess).

 

[Lance Arrow]

Blizzard is already sitting on a mountain of money, they really can't make a 'wrong' move at this point.

just one? how about three

City of Heroes

Dude, City of Heroes is F2P now? Man I really liked that game. I should pick it up again sometime

 

[Rawne1980]

Space saving snip

Didn't realise the drop was that many, last time I'd heard about it it was closer to the numbers I had (with the exception of the 11 million, I guess).

You are right in a way.

The number released that was picked up by every forum and gaming website was the first 600.000 loss.

The rest of the losses need to be looked for.

Easiest way is looking at sub numbers from last year up to now which is down from 12.4 million to between 10 and 11 million.

There is speculation that it's lower than that but nothing to back that up yet (most speculation has exact active subscribing players in US and EU at around 3 - 4 million but that doesn't include the Asian continent that has several million of it's own).

I do know Blizzard admit they have a constant bleeding of subscribers but it's slowed down recently.

The point a lot of people seem to miss is it's not that people are disliking WoW anymore it's just that it is coming up to 7 years old and people are wanting something new.